


Cocktober 7: Graveyard AKA Satanic Panic

by Glitter_Bug



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Animal Death, Blood, Dark Magic, Dead Billy, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Max and Steve bond, Swearing, animal injury, as part of the ritual, it is described though, please read the notes, satanic rituals, so please be careful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26882395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glitter_Bug/pseuds/Glitter_Bug
Summary: “Can it work on a person? Could you bring someone back?”
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington & Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Comments: 16
Kudos: 42
Collections: Cocktober Prompt Meme





	Cocktober 7: Graveyard AKA Satanic Panic

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for animal death, description of a dead and hurt animal and description of an animal being killed and used in a Satanic ritual. 
> 
> It's not overly graphic, but there is blood and a mention of the animal in pain.
> 
> There's more detail in the end notes.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Max kicked at the ground with her foot, her skateboard flying down the hills towards home. She was late. Super late.

To say Max was having a bad time would be an understatement, she’d just had her fourth detention in as many weeks, and Neil was starting to get annoyed. He’d been surprisingly patient at first; had told her that he understood that she was missing her brother, that she felt the need to act out, parroting phrases from the grief pamphlet as he told her that her anger was  _ valid _ and  _ expected _ .

But Max knew that his goodwill had to run out soon, knew that she was already on very thin ice.

And now she was late.

And it was getting dark.

_ Shit. _

Max weighed up her options. She could fake an accident and wander in  _ very _ late but with a limp and a bloody knee hoping for sympathy. It would probably get her out of too much serious trouble, Susan would be more concerned with mopping her up than scolding her, but she ran the risk of getting her board confiscated and having to be driven to and from school like a little kid. And that would  _ not _ work well for her already limited popularity at school.

Or she could take a short cut.

Through the graveyard.

She’d still be a little late home, but she’d probably just make it back in time for dinner and avoid the worst consequences.

It was just that, well, the graveyard had dark shadowy corners and weird imposing crypts and…graves. It had a certain grave. Billy’s grave.

Max had been to visit it a few times, had sat down beside it and talked to Billy when things were tough. She even brought flowers, cheap bouquets from the store because it seemed the right thing to do, but one time when she got there she found that someone had already left a large bunch of sunflowers in a pretty blue pot. Bright and yellow and exactly right. It shouldn't have been such a surprise to see them, Billy's grave had received its fair share of visitors in the early days, sobbing girls who claimed he was their first love; teammates who left tributes of beer bottles and a jacket; his lackeys and followers who just as quickly hitched their wagon to the next bright star of Hawkins High.

But the sun flowers had appeared after all of that, when the fuss had died down and the novelty had worn off. And they kept appearing, wilted blooms being replaced by fresh ones every week. No notes, no words, just the bright yellow flowers.

All Max knew was that it definitely wasn't Neil or Susan. She knew they hadn't even stepped foot in the cemetery since the funeral. The sunflowers had looked so bright, so vivid, so much more  _ Billy _ than her own shabby offerings, and she felt a little guilty for not doing more. 

She hadn't been for a while, hadn’t been able to face it on top of high school, hadn’t wanted to tell Billy how much she was struggling, even if he wasn’t actually there to hear her. And it was hard for her to have to suddenly get used to the fact that she wasn’t going to run into him at school, that she wouldn’t get to experience him denying all knowledge of her and their relationship but then sticking up for her when she needed it; because he was the only one allowed to be an asshole to her and god help anyone else who dared to try. 

Max steeled herself. 

Pushed open the metal gates with a creak.

She could do this. 

Max recognised the group huddled around Billy’s grave; two boys- one tall, with his teased black hair adding a good extra foot to his height, dressed in black with silver jewellery covered in a variety of occult looking symbols. The other boy had a similar look- plenty of jewellery, and his eyes and lips thickly painted with black. There was a girl kneeling in front of Billy's headstone, all in black like the others but much less showy, a simple silver pentagram bracelet on her wrist and a sweep of dark liner on her eyes. She’d seen the three of them around school, hard to miss them with their  _ particular _ fashion sense, and had heard the rumours of what they got up to- seances and ouija boards and things with candles and blood and chanting- but they were a few years older than her so she hadn’t really paid much attention, hadn’t really had anything to do with them. 

She was, however, pretty sure they had never had anything to do with Billy. 

Max’s suspicion grew when she saw what the girl was kneeling next to; a little grey cat, unmoving. It’s grey fur stiff with darkened blood. Max’s stomach churned and she felt a fury rise up in her. 

“Hey!” Max shouted, dropping her board and running over to them, “Hey! Get off there, you assholes, that’s my brother’s grave.

"Yo Sasha," the taller boy tapped the girl on the shoulder, "we got a little brat incoming."

Sasha turned around, looked back at the cat and then up at Max standing in front of the group.

The taller boy cocked his head at Max, gave her a sneering look, 

"This really your brother, Carrot Top? Hero Hargrove- The Saviour of Starcourt?"

Before Max could answer, the shorter boy piped up, "Oh shit Ash, he did have a sister. She's one of the ones he 'saved'," he made air quotes around the word and then looked at Max, "Were you there? You see what happened? It wasn’t a fire, right? It doesn’t add up.”

The girl, Sasha, stood up, wiping something dark and sticky off her hands, "Leave her alone Marco, she's just a kid." 

Sasha moved a little closer to Max, her voice warm, "I'm sorry about your brother, he did a brave thing and we were just...just paying our respects."

"Yeah right," Max crossed her arms, glaring at Sasha, 

“Uh, guys?”

The cat twitched, and Max gasped, echoed by the teens. They all watched in horror as the flattened little body started to convulse and it tried to stand up on broken legs. Max could hear the crack of bone as the body started to repair itself, each move becoming stronger and less jerky. Sasha leaned forward, her face calm but interested, studying the cat with scientific interest. Ash and Marco were grinning wildly, and Max was frozen in shock. Then there was a sudden, horrendous yowl as the cat jolted upright, before it shivered once more and limped back down, lifeless.

Sasha knelt back down, “Well that was better-” 

“What did you do?” Max’s eyes were wide, her arms wrapping around herself, “That was dead. How did it…?

Ash’s grin grew wider, giving him an almost manic air, “Nothing Little Red, nothing you need to worry about. Just a little bit of a magic trick that’s all.”

“Yeah we’re, uh, practising magicians,” Marco stifled a laugh, “Rabbits out of hats, card tricks, bringing poor little pussies back to life…”

“I’d run along home now pipsqueak,” Ash gave Max’s shoulder a firm push, “This place can get pretty spooky at night,”

“I’m not scared of you,” Max stood her ground, planted her feet and placed her hands on her hips.

“You sure about that?” Ash leered at her, his face inches away from hers, Marco moved to stand beside him. 

“Go on kid, don’t want your mommy and daddy worried about you.”

Max took one more look at the cat, now being poked and prodded by Sasha.    
She looked at Ash and Marco, their eerie grins in the darkness.   
Thought about Neil’s face if she was late again.    
  
Knew which one she found scariest.

Max grabbed her board and ran.

*****

Max arrived at school the next day with a plan. 

She needed answers.

And luckily, the trio weren’t hard to spot.

"Hey! Sasha!" she ran up to them, her backpack banging against her back, "I need to talk to you," 

"No you don't"

Ash moved in front of her, blocked her way. Max shoved past him, pushed him away easily. Despite his amulets and trinkets and tattoos, Max knew that Ash wasn't the one with any real knowledge. Having grown up with Billy, she knew posturing when she saw it. No, Ash and Marco were all image, all intimidating pendants and a look designed to shock and get attention. Sasha was the one who actually walked the walk, the one Max needed to talk to.

"Nope," Marco made a grab for Max's arm, but Sasha stopped him,

"You OK?" she asked, eyes full of concern.

Max let it all out, let out all the questions she’d been churning over in her mind, “I saw what you did with that cat. It was dead, it was  _ definitely _ dead, and then you...you brought it back. And I know what people say about you, that you do...stuff, magic. Was that it? Real magic? Was that a  _ ritual? _ ”

Ash smirked down at her, 

“Oh is that what you want? A little love spell? You mooning over some floppy haired kid in Algebra who just won’t look your way? Oh Red, my heart is bleeding for you.”

“Ash!” Sasha shoved him out of the way, put a gentle hand on Max’s arm, "Look kid, I'm sorry if we scared you, but it was just a trick- I promise." 

“I wasn’t scared,” Max hardened her eyes, “I’ve seen weirder things than that in this town.”

“So there  _ is _ something going on here,” Marco piped up, “We knew it.”

Max crossed her arms and glared at him, “Oh yeah, there’s monsters.  _ Real  _ ones. So I know what can happen. I  _ know _ it wasn’t a trick. And I want...I want to know how to do it.”

“Why? Little Red got a puppy that needs perking up?” Ash pulled an exaggerated pouty face, and Max scowled back she looked back at Sasha,

“Can it work on a person? Could you bring someone back?” 

Sasha’s expression changed suddenly, and she grabbed Max’s arm again, tighter this time.

“That’s dangerous,” she hissed, “Don’t go talking about that.”

Max tried to shake her off, but Sasha held firm, her dark purple nails digging into Max’s jacket.

“So you can’t,” Max said, “Ok.” 

“We didn’t say  _ can’t _ .” Marco’s grin was wide, but there was no humour in his eyes, 

“It’s messy,” Sasha loosened her grip and Max took a step back, “And it’s not easy. It only really works with a personal connection.”

“Who were you thinking of bringing back?” Ash asked, his eyes flicking to Sasha with a calculating look, “someone close to you perhaps?”

Max nodded. She suddenly felt cold and wrapped her arms around herself. “Billy,” she mumbled.

Sasha, Ash and Marco exchanged looks, Sasha gave a little shake of her head, and beckoned Ash and Marco aside. Max listened in, heard them whispering about safety, about her being  _ just a kid _ . Ash repeating  _ ‘personal connection’  _ and insisting that they  _ give it a try.  _ Marco nodded along, backing up Ash’s points.

“I can hear you y’know,” Max was getting angry, could feel the fury building up in her, the little prickle of tears that always heralded an outburst, “And I want to try. I don’t care if it’s messy or scary or whatever. Billy’s my brother and he shouldn’t have died and it wasn’t right, it’s not right. And I didn’t try hard enough to save him before, so I need to try now. I need to help him.”

Sasha looked her over, seemed impressed, “Ok kid, ok. You can help. But it’s not nice, OK? It’s not going to be pretty. This stuff can get dark, can get ugly. You need to be ready for that.”

“I’ve seen dark,” Max said, her voice low, “I’m ready.” 

*****

The plan was simple.

Max waited until half eleven, made sure that Neil and Susan were sound asleep, and snuck out of her bedroom window and made her way to the graveyard.

Easy.

The trio were already there, gathered around Billy’s grave as before, a circle of flickering candles lighting their faces and a cardboard box placed at their feet.

“What’s that?” Max eyed it up suspiciously, as it seemed to twitch. She flinched when the box, or whatever was  _ in  _ the box, let out a piercing shriek.

“Oh this is an integral part of the ritual. Did we not...did we not mention this? Oh dear.” Ash’s gleeful face betrayed his words, “You get to do the honours, of course, as it’s your  _ personal connection _ that brings us here.’

Ash reached hesitantly into the box, withdrawing his fingers quickly with a yelp. “Motherf-” he growled, and then plunged his hand in again, firmly this time. There was another high pitched squeal from the box, and Ash pulled out a rooster, black feathers shining in the candlelight. It’s head was whirling round frantically, trying to peck at Ash’s hands holding it tightly. The cockerel’s legs flailed as it lashed out with everything it could. 

“Nasty fucking thing,” Ash grumbled. He thrust it at Max, who simply looked down at it and shook her head, wide-eyed.

“Give it here,” Sasha walked over and tucked the cockerel under one arm, cooing a little and stroking its feathers, “It’s OK Max, I’ll hold him, but you are going to have to make the sacrifice.” She held out a large knife, its silver blade reflecting the flickering candles, and pressed the handle of it into Max’s hand. “I’m sorry, but we did say it would be messy.”

Max shook her head again, her eyes watery, “I don’t wanna…” she mumbled, biting her lip, “I didn’t know you meant... _ this _ .”

“It’s tradition,” Marco chimed in, “And c’mon, you eat nuggets right? Just think of it as one big, feathery nugget.”

“I  _ can’t!”  _ Max backed away, stumbling over the grass, “I can’t kill it.”

“Thought you wanted to help Billy,” Ash cocked his head to one side, “Thought you were gonna save him this time. But it’s OK if you’re too  _ scared _ ,” his voice took on a mocking tone, “I’m sure Billy won’t mind you leaving him all alone again.”

“I…I…” Max looked around wildly, her eyes filling with tears. She thought of Billy, remembered him crying out for her, remembered the terror in his eyes and he was forced to do all of those horrible things, remembered his apology as he lay on the mall floor, bleeding and dying in front of her.

“Ok,” Max stepped forward and grabbed the knife from Sasha with shaking hands, “How should I...?”

Sasha shuffled the cockerel around in her arms, holding it tightly, “Just here, stab here. It’ll be quick, I promise, it won’t feel a thing.”

Max nodded and squeezed her hand around the knife’s handle.

She could do this.

She  _ had  _ to do this.

For Billy. 

Max raised the knife. Aimed for the spot Sasha had indicated and then closed her eyes.

She stabbed.

Something warm and wet splattered into her face, and there was a chilling shriek from the bird. 

It kept on shrieking.

Max stabbed again and again, desperate to do anything to stop the noise. She stabbed until her next thrust met only empty air, and Max dropped the knife before opening her eyes to see that Sasha had moved away, the body of the cockerel dangling from her hands.

Max stood there, forgotten. 

She could feel more of the wetness dripping down her arms, felt the chill of the air drying it on her face, and she looked down to see her arms slick with blood. As she breathed, the metallic scent of it clogged her nostrils, stuck in her throat and she gagged, tears pouring down her face. She couldn’t focus on anything else, her ears so full of the cockerel’s scream that it almost blocked out the trio's chanting; a garbled, muffled mess in a language she couldn’t understand, Sasha’s voice low and ominous. 

“HEY!”

A shout cut through the night, a voice that Max knew, a voice she was suddenly so  _ so  _ relieved to hear.

“Steve!” Max breathed out, she tried to turn to him, to run to him, but the sudden movement caused her head to spin and she fell to the ground.

“Max?” Steve was shouting again, closer this time, and Max could hear the pound of footsteps as he raced towards her, “Max, oh my god, Max, what’s going on, are you…” she could tell the moment Steve noticed the blood, he crashed to his knees beside her, his hands lightly probing over her body, trying to find the source of her injury, “Oh God Max, are you OK? Oh shit, oh shit,” 

Max pushed herself up, “I’m OK, it’s not my blood...I’m not hurt,” but her voice was still small, still shaky, and she knew that Steve wasn’t convinced. 

“Who were those guys? Did they hurt you?” Steve’s hands were warm on her shoulders, holding her securely, “they’re gone, don’t worry, they started running as soon as they saw me. Think I scared them off.” 

Max looked up, looked around. Sasha and the boys were gone. Max was surprised that they fled so quickly, until she looked down to see Steve’s nail bat thrown down there, next to a bouquet of bright sunflowers.

_ Oh _ .

“We were trying to...they were... oh Steve-” Max suddenly felt ashamed and she ducked her head as more tears started to fall. Steve held her closer, let her lean on his shoulder and sob into his jacket, “They said they could get Billy back, they had a spell.” 

“Oh Max,” Steve ran a comforting hand through her hair.

“I’m sorry,” Max choked out, “I just wanted to help him, I thought I could help him. I’m so sorry Steve,”

“Shh, shh it’s OK, you’re OK.” Steve murmured, and Max stayed there a little longer ,soaking in his solid warmth, his comforting presence. She could hear him sniffing too, could feel a few tears drop into her hair. 

Max thought about the sunflowers.

Thought about how Billy had been a lot happier before the summer, about the times she’d seen him and Steve leaning against the Camaro and chatting while they waited for the Party to finish up in the arcade, sharing a cigarette and standing so close that their fingers were practically touching. She thought about the nights that Billy couldn’t stay in the house, the nights when Neil snatched his car keys and slammed the door in his face. Thought about how he used to turn up in the mornings freshly showered and with hair smelling a lot like Steve’s shampoo.

It made sense.

Max pulled back from Steve, scooting away and wiping her eyes.

“Sorry,” she said again. Steve gave her a watery smile.

“It’s OK Max, I get it.”

“I just wanted him back.” Max whispered, “I didn’t think…I just  _ miss _ him.”

Steve’s face flashed with pain, “I know,” he whispered back, “Me too.”

Max looked pointedly at the sunflowers and Steve nodded,

“We got...closer. Before summer.” Max smiled and reached for the bouquet, handing it over to Steve. He took them to Billy’s grave, stepping over the candle circle. Steve spent a while removing the old flowers from the little blue pot and then carefully arranging the new ones, whispering something as he did so. Max turned away to give him some space. 

When Steve was done, sunflowers arranged to his liking, he came to sit back down with Max, shrugging off his jacket and passing it over to her.

“I’m not cold,” Max gave him a puzzled look.

“No, it’s for the-uh- for the…” Steve gestured at Max’s face, at her arms, and Max felt a rush of nausea. 

“I’ll ruin it,” she said.

“Come here,” Steve mopped her up as best he could with the jacket. It was hard and scratchy, and was probably smearing more than it was cleaning, but the gesture made Max feel a little better.

“He would’ve been impressed, y’know,” Steve said, tossing the now stained jacket into his backpack, “You doing all this. He always said you were a badass.”

“No, this wasn’t badass. This was dumb.” Max bit her lip, “I just thought it might work. I  _ saw _ them do something and I just...I was stupid. It didn’t work.” 

“You were trying to help,” Steve smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s more than I ever did for him.” Steve lowered his head, talking to the ground, words stilted and hushed. “We had a fight, before...everything. He was always flirting at the pool, chatting up the women. I know it was all for show but it..it got to me. I guess I was paranoid... I got angry and he...stopped coming around.” Steve took a deep breath and scrubbed a hand over his eyes, “And I was stubborn. Acted like an asshole. Didn’t go and check on him or anything. If I had, I coulda helped..coulda seen what was going on and got that thing out of him, but I didn’t even-”

A sudden thump stopped Steve with a jolt. He and Max looked around, Steve jumping up to grab the nail bat and push Max behind him.

“What was-” Max started, but another thump sounded before she could finish.

“I don’t know..” Steve whirled around, eyes scanning across the graveyard.

Another thump. Then another. Quicker and louder.

Steve and Max looked at each other in horror, then looked at their feet. Looked down at Billy’s grave.

Down to where the noises were coming from. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Notes for animal death/injury/harm.
> 
> One scene where Max sees a dead cat brought to life. There is a brief description of the animal's hurt body repairing itself, the cat makes a pained sound and then appears to die again.
> 
> A scene where Max has to sacrifice a cockerel for a ritual. She is reluctant but does it in the end. She stabs the bird with a knife and there is a description of her getting sprayed with blood and the animal making sounds of pain. The cockerel dies and there is a reference to its body being held.


End file.
